Zug Estates places another green bond
The issue raised CHF 100 million. Other green financing instruments may also be used in the future.
Zug Estates Holding AG has placed a further CHF 100 million green bond. The latest bond will be paid out on September 30 and has a coupon of 1.65%. It has a term of seven years. According to Zug Estates, this increases the proportion of unsecured bonds in relation to all interest-bearing financing to around 45%.
In the run-up to the issue, the existing Green Bond Framework was expanded into a Green Finance Framework, which now enables Zug Estates not only to issue green bonds but also to access other types of green financial instruments.
95% of Zug Estates' properties are considered "green"
Under the new selection criteria, buildings and sites are classified as green if they have operational greenhouse gas emissions of less than 1 kg/sqm of energy reference area or are certified by Breeam (very good or higher), DGNB/SGNI (Gold or higher), SNBS (Gold or higher) or Minergie. According to Zug Estates, 95% of its portfolio meets these criteria. Of this, properties in Suurstoffi with a market value of CHF 418.4 million are allocated to the two existing green bonds and the newly launched green bond.
According to Zug Estates, it was the first Swiss real estate company to issue a green bond in 2019. In 2022, the bond portfolio was fully converted to green bonds. (aw)
